Recent Development

The Department of Economics has brought remarkable changes to improve the overall trend of higher education and functioning of the faculty and students at Kateb and in Afghanistan as follow:

Funded Scholarship for Faculty

The greatest honor of past year for Kateb Economics was when Dean of Economics, Mr. Najibullah Arshad, got fully funded PhD scholarship in Sharif University Iran. His broader fields of study are macroeconomics and econometrics. Mr. Arshad plans to write about government policies that purposefully aims at extreme poverty in Afghanistan which must be ended through research in economics. He also wants to search for solution on how to create a sustainable economic growth in the country for this problem. Kateb success stories do not end here. Mr. Mohammad Amin Askari is another recipient and scholar of PhD holder in Marketing beginning his degree in Tehran University.

Department of economics visions to facilitate PhD programs in fields of macroeconomics and econometrics at Kateb University. The department aspires to create research center for economic growth in Afghanistan. Mr. Arshad and Askari’s success in their PhD is going to smoothen this progress.

Moving forward, MBA was mapped to be introduced in graduate program of economics back in 2015. Kateb needed at least three PhDs to run the new established department. To achieve this, Kateb has funded four of its current lecturers with master’s degrees to become doctorates in financial and strategic management, marketing and accounting. Mr. Syed Musa Hussaini has been funded to get his PhD from Turkey in financial management. Tagging along, Ms. Nargis Zafari will be sent to Tehran University in 2019 to get her PhD in accounting. Previously, Mr. Mohammad Amin Askari was sent to Tehran to get his PhD the same year the strategic plan was created. Now, he is scheduled to return to Kabul after completion of his studies. He will get his doctorate degree after submission of his paper in few years. The fourth PhD scholar is Mr. Abdul Hamid Etemadi who has also finished his studies only to submit his paper later this year to PhD awarding committee. He is currently offering classes at Kateb and working on his thesis. Addition of MBA program is designed to take place in 2020 with successful completion of these PhD scholars.

Development and Planning

The department developed a five year strategic plan in the beginning of 2016. From then on, the department has been reviewing its strategies annually and brought significant changes in its curriculum, reviewed its programs and recruited a number of qualified faculty members. For example, Mr. Hassan Rohani has recently been recruited as full-time lecturer in the department. He is a candidate for PhD in Economics and Monetary Economics at Isfahan University. He offers classes in international trade and microeconomics to senior undergraduate and graduate students.

To further the cause of growth and progress, the administrative body at the department of economics has added two new directory positions; Mohamad ShakirAzizi as the Head of Business Economics and Mr. Mohammad EhsanErfani as Head of Business Administration. The purpose of these new additions is to ensure improved decision-making, supervisory and executive procedures in order to make student experience as slick as possible.

On July 2018, we launched a research center for economics and management science. This research center mainly focused on sectors of money and banking, international trade, economic development, environmental economic and public economics. Presently, we are working on three research projects such as Evaluation the Impact of Exchange Rate on Economic Growth of Afghanistan, Impact of Monetary and Financial Policies on Afghanistan Economy, Regional Trade and Impact of that on Afghanistan Economy, Impact of USA Policies on Scale of Investment in Afghanistan. The vision research center for economics and management science is to become an excellence center for research and development for the field of economics and management sciences in the country.

Kateb University has risen in ranking from fourth in the country to third since 2016. We are also ranked as the best private university in the country. Our world ranking has improved by 2000 since 2016 standing at 16024 now. We are currently in the third phase of our accreditation by the Ministry of Higher Education, which means we are soon to be officially recognized as an accredited department within Kateb University.

Kateb University’s journey has not been all smooth. On 23rd July, 2016 Kateb University lost a good soul in a twin blast on protesters in Deh Mazang square. Mr. Ahmad Sharif Dawlat Shahi was a graduate student at the department of economics and a social activist. Losing Mr. Dawlat Shahi has left great impact on Kateb as a community and family. We will always remember and miss him.

Researches and Trainings

Over the past years, faculty members and students have played vital role in submitting research papers to be published in the KU Research Quarterly. A number of 10 research articles were published in the KU Research Journal Vol. 5 No. 4 in summer 2017. The improvements are result of research capacity building conducted about different research methodologies and research software. The research authors and titles are as follows:

Title

Authors

An Estimation of Household Electricity Demand’s Function in Kabul City (1388 – 1390)

An Evaluating the Effect of Trade Liberalization on the Human Development Index of Selected Developing Countries.

Mohammad Salim Nori, Alireza Mohseni, Najibullah Arshad

The Most Influential Factors on Costumers’ Satisfaction in Skin and Beauty Clinics

Narjes Zafari, Sara Hasanzadeh, Mojtaba Dadras

Certificate Course on Qualitative Research Methodology jointly presented by Kateb University and Washington Ethical Consulting Company was conducted on 20th of December, 2017.

Dr. Shakirullah who also teaches finance and accounting at Stratford University offered a one month course on qualitative and quantitative research at Kateb. The course was designed for Kateb University graduate level students and faculty members. Dr. Shakirullah is a PhD advisor at Georgetown University. He is also a member of the Institutional Review Board of Stratford University.

Guest Speakers and Conferences

Some of our visiting guests during the past few years have been prominent figures from different walks of life. On 8th November 2017, The Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan paid an official visit to Kateb University where he met some KU administrative body, faculty and students. He discussed plans of the government of Canada in Afghanistan in education sector.

On January 1st, 2018 Dr. Shakirullah, professor at Stradford University, delivered a training on strategic thinking as a guest lecturer for the students of economics, business and KU administrative staff.

Guest Lecture on the topic “Tax System in Afghanistan” was conducted by Faculty of Economics/BBA Department Kateb University on 11th November, 2017. Head of the Department Mr. Mohammad Shaker Azizi inaugurated the event. The eminent speaker was Mr. Jamshid Khan Shinwari. The program was graced by the presence of faculty members. The lecture went on to become a roaring success!

On September 26, 2016 Mr. Feroze Khan Masjedi, the former deputy minister of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, delivered his speech on analyzing effects of Afghanistan’s membership in World Trade Organization (WTO). Main participants of this guest speech were students of Economics at Kateb University.

On October 19, 2016 Advanced Accounting LLC representatives organized an awareness workshop on ACCA for the students of Economics and BBA. The aim of this workshop was to raise awareness about profession about ACCA and available scholarships.

Student Development

As part of the student development Kateb Department of Economic has been arranging educational and industrial tours to different industrial mills around Kabul city. Kateb University believes in providing quality education with a focus on market needs. We often organize industrial tours for our freshman, sophomore, junior and graduating students. Last year we organized an industrial tour to Toyota Motors. This year, just before the final exams our students got the chance to meet employees of High Standard Pipe, Khan Steel and Kawsar Pipes Companies during a series of our educational tours.

On May 10th, the department of economics hosted the annual Job Fair and Alumni Gathering at the Kateb University Main Branch. This year we had 5 prominent employers and service providers’ stalls, with approximately 100 jobseekers (current students and alumni) attending. The main objective of the Career Fair was to help our students and alumni interact with employers directly and apply for any vacancies announced. Students and Alumni used the opportunity to submit their updated CVs, took mock interviews and practiced elevator pitch. The employers in the event were the following companies:

We are planning to triple the number of companies in our forthcoming career fairs.

So far, the Department of Economics has had six rounds of commencement ceremonies where more than 600 students have graduated with a bachelor and/or master’s degree in business administration, business economics and development economics. Kateb’s Department of Economics is a leading in Afghanistan to offer a master’s degree in Development Economics.

In the year of 2018, department of Economics purchased 400 new text books in the field management and economics.